Whatever one's ideological view of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, it can scarcely be denied that this episode represents a series of events which brought about profound and enduring changes that affected the religious, social, and economic landscape. The years 1536–40 saw the destruction and dismantling of some of the country's finest and most imposing edifices. This ultimately contributed to the redistribution of the nation's wealth and brought to an end a way of life, the legitimacy of which was increasingly debated. Much work has been done on different aspects of the suppression of the English and Welsh monasteries, even from the immediately aftermath of the Dissolution, when the dust had barely settled on the ruins of the former abbeys and priories, and right up to the present day. Amidst much controversy, and often coloured by an inevitable denominational rift, historians like G.G. Coulton, Francis Gasquet, Geoffrey Baskerville, David Knowles, and more recently Joyce Youings, Claire Cross and Eamon Duffy have ensured that the plight of this suddenly unemployed workforce of praying men and women, as well as the fate of the former monastic buildings and lands, was brought to the attention of a wider audience.

The patrons of the religious houses at the time of the Dissolution, in contrast, have to date received rather little direct attention. However, these men and women must have felt the impact of the suppression of the monasteries, many of which housed the graves of their forebears, cared for their ancestors' and their own souls, and which were generally such a familiar element in the medieval landscape.